... Worked out the optimum amount of protein intake they need to recover, grow, and perform in the most efficient manner possible?

This is kind of a typical topic, but it would be interesting to see if people, through trial and error, have discovered what works and what doesn't work for them in terms of protein consumption - psychological beliefs aside.

I was having a discussion with some guys at the gym the other day. One of them, in particular, who trains for hypertrophy five days a week, believes that he is unable to recover sufficiently without at least 1.5g per lb of body weight daily, be it bulking or cutting. He claims that since he began training (~5 years), he has tried many different dietary variations, including a stint with Paleo. He didn't last eating the primal way for very long, but he claimed he never recovered better than when he was eating Paleo. He's a macro logger, and found that he was averaging just over 1.5g per lb of bodyweight in protein whilst on the Paleo diet, prior to that he was eating under 1g per lb a day.

I believe he said for that last couple of years he's eaten at least 1.5g protein per lb (he's 220lbs, up from around 210 in the last year or so, so that would equate to ~330g per day) of bodyweight, save for days when he's been ill and unable to eat properly, or on the occasion he claims, a few months back where he went back to eating 1g per lb of bodyweight for a 14 day period and claims to have had below average performance.

In his case, this may be purely psychological, but it still raises some interesting points, specifically that he started making his best gains when he switched to a high protein diet (Paleo) around 18 months into training.

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For me personally, my most optimal intake of protein, observed thus far (I feel I'm performing the best I ever have been at the moment) is about 200g per day, or 1.1g per lb of bodyweight. A large percentage of that protein does come from non-animal sources, so that rules out 200g of pure "complete" protein. Of course, I've recently upped my caloric intake, so this may have more to do with recovery and performance, as opposed to protein intake.

How about anybody else? Have you experienced any significant differences eating above or below a certain threshold of protein?

I have to find it slightly funny he's also established the vague. arbitrary, and inconsistent nature of a paleo diet as being objectively ideal for his goals. Despite all the factors one would have to isolate and be aware of.

I think the best quote in all of this was

Quote:

He believes

I get that you are asking just in good fun, but I don't see how anything but baseless speculation and anecdote comes of this.

I have to find it slightly funny he's also established the vague. arbitrary, and inconsistent nature of a paleo diet as being objectively ideal for his goals. Despite all the factors one would have to isolate and be aware of.

He no longer follows it, basically what I think he's getting at is that he found his maximal efficiency zone, in terms of protein consumption by the higher protein consumption of following a faddy diet like Paleo. When he started eating "normally" (relative, especially for us training types) again he continued to consume that higher rate of protein and found that he performed, recovered, and gained significantly better than he did consuming the 1.3-1.8g per kg of bodyweight "maximal range" as found in studies such as this

Quote:

I get that you are asking just in good fun, but I don't see how anything but baseless speculation and anecdote comes of this.

Well, how do you judge individual variation? There is never an exact figure or blanket amount for everybody. Some of us respond well to more ,some to less. The case example (about a guy who trains at my gym) I provided is of a guy who stumbled upon the possibility that he does better eating over a certain threshold in grams of protein per day. Whether or not this is the case, we can't possibly know, we only have his trial and error method and brief self-testing (which itself carries numerous variables) to go on.

Like you say though, it's just in good fun, to see if anybody feels they've discovered how they work.

Theres been a lot of controversy over the years as to how much protein is needed (as shown in lyles protein book) and it seems as though ya friend is eating at the low end of the recommended range. Not saying hes wrong though, he obviously knows what he can tolerate.
Correct me if im im wrong but in early stages of hypertrophy training where gains are fast, protein intake probably needs to be higher to allow for initial muscle adaption, maybe tapering off as the trainee advances.